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I finally managed to find some decent halloumi cheese in the supermarket. Let me tell you, I love them! Its a great substitute for a vegetarian BBQ, which meat lovers will like as well. These cheese is traditionally Cyprian, and very popular in The Middle East and Greece. Usually made by sheep’s or goats milk, sometimes there are cows milk based available too.

The best thing about it: It goes ell with almost anything, with chili or sweeter sauces, vegetables, grills, prosciutto, salads..you name it. Spices as well can be used while grilling, I would recommend sumac and some cured lemon.

I had to try out some bread recipes today, and ended up, with a nice thin sourdough, which is perfect toasted with some olive oil. I thought it ill go well with the halloumi, just wanted to make it a bit colorful As I said it goes well with almost anything, I thought I add some grilled tomatoes, and since I had a pesto open just spread it on the toast. The result was yummy! The combination of the flavors was just amazing, and nothing beats fresh home-made bread! Its perfect as a welcome snack or to a wine tasting or to pretty much any food-loving occasion!

Note: If its your first time grilling halloumi, there’s a few things you should know. Fry it in a non-stick frying pan. Make sure the pan is burning hot…and I mean literally burning hot! Use only a drop of olive oil, not much more! Don`t overcrowd, so try and fry maybe 3-4 at once, or else the temperature will drop and your cheese is going to melt instead if grilling. Just brown each side and your cheese is ready!

Heat a frying pan, add a couple of spoons of olive oil, toast the bread slices at both sides

Spread some pesto over the toasts, while they are still warm so it melts a bit.

So yes, everybody is dieting, trying to lose wight, watch their figure and eat healthy. There are plenty of diets, some well know some not that much, some are really a struggle some easy to keep. I found (especially in my field of work) that keeping and following a diet, can be difficult during a work week. Sometimes you don’t have time to prepare your stuff, or need to go for a work lunch, or just the local deli doesn`t sell the stuff that you need. And after a while people just give up as “it`s just too much work”

The deal with me was pretty much the same. I tried Atkins diet for a while, it worked, but only for a short amount of time, as to be honest I don’t really like to eat meat that much. So that was a no go, very low energy diets just made me really tired at work, and I still needed to taste most of the food I made so, again no go. I tried to separate some ingredients, so no meat with carbs and etc, it sort of worked but wasn`t enough.

The 90 day diet is popular in Hungary, so I thought I give it a go. Basically ingredients are divided for 4 days, You only eat one kind of food a day, so lats say fruit or carbs, or high protein, and you repeat the days for 90 days, until your body cleans itself. It sounds hard but it isn’t, basically you can eat anything (almost) just on the right day. Make sure your breakfast is always fruit, and make sure you don`t mix the variety of ingredients.

So I`ve been doing this for a week now, and let me tell you, it`s really good. I never separated my food this much, and it`s easier then I thought, and even after a couple of days I felt better. Of course it`s a slow weight loss process hence the 90 days, but t does make you healthier. And I sort of made the promise Im going to start cooking for myself, which after work Im really not in the mood for. So now, it`s a promise im following the diet, also I wanna share the recipes I make and create for the separate days, as food is still good, and maybe I inspire some to do the diet with me.

1st day

High protein day

(Anything which includes, meat, fish, eggs, dairy) so basically an Atkins day (some lettuce or fresh vegetables are allowed, but within reason)

So yes, here’s the meat, which sometimes needs sauce or flavouring, and there are limited amount of things you can use. Ketchup and mustard are quite common, on this day mayo is also allowed. Note you can still use fresh herbs, a bit of garlic, chili etc. Stay away from fried vegetables like onion, or a ratatoullie. Or sauces containing flour or sugar.

Lunch- Steak marinated to red wine mustard, with eggs and basil

1 beefsteak

2 eggs

2 spoons of red wine mustard

1 spoon of butter

1 spoon of olive oil

fresh basil leafs

salt and pepper for seasoning

A day before (no time 2 hours before is also good, but less doesnt do much as a marinade) Mix the olive oil with the mustard. Slice on the top of the steak, season it with salt and pepper. Marinate it with the mustard-oil mix, and keep it a container, make sure it doesn`t dry out.

Fry it over butter, for your preference, with the egg. Put a couple of basil leafs in the oil, making them crispy. Enjoy!

And an other vegetarian treat. Weird thing is, I’m not a vegetarian, but I do love vegetables, salads, and fruits. I can`t wait to eat at New York`s “Whole food market” again, the salad bar just blew my mind:) On the other hand, I`m the one in the kitchen who has to come up with the vegetarian meals all the time. Dunno why, maybe they think, if I`m the only female, I should do all the “girly food”. To be honest, I don`t think vegetarian meals are “girly” at all. This general thinking of some people ” I must eat meat, otherwise the food is shit” it`s kind of ridiculous. I love putting these people up to a challenge. I give them a delicious meal, they like it, eat it, compliment it..after that I ruin their mood by telling them “sorry dude, it was a vegetarian dish” Sometimes the general reaction is “OMG I gotta go to eat half of a cow now”, but if I get just one positive feedback, I’m fine with it. Don`t get me wrong, I`m not trying to convince people to be vegetarians, I’m just simply annoyed by meat being overrated and vegetarian food tagged “girly”.

To be honest with you, the morning I created this meal, I had no idea what or how I’m going to do it. I went for a “safari” among the fridges, and started collecting stuff. To be honest, that day, we were almost out of everything, so I didn`t had much to chose from. When Ive put down everything on the table, ideas came in to mind, and started to put a recipe together. Potatoes I had plenty, and I didn`t make any rosti for a while. When all of a sudden it was all clear. I make big pancake sized rosti and fill it with Julienne grilled vegetables, and some feta cheese. It was soooo easy to make and the result was absolutely delicious. It’s a great and easy meal. Nice and filling too!

Great the potatoes in a bowl. Add eggs, seasoning, garlic, mix well together, add flour, mix well. If the mix is too dry add some milk, or sour creme. It has to be a bit runny, but not as much as a pancake mix. Oil a frying pan, make it very hot. Ad a spoonful from the potato mix, and push it evenly among the sides. Make sure it`s not thicker then 3 mm. Fry both sides. Set aside.

In an other pan, fry all your vegetables on very hot oil. It needs to be sizzling hot otherwise your vegetables cook instead of frying. Add salt, pepper. From here you can add any other seasoning you wish.

When ready, fill the rosti with vegetables, only on one side. Add feta cheese and fold over.

Wraps are good, a bit healthier choise for a breakfast, can be made in a minute, and they just look good. Now I’m experimenting with breakfast rolls, for brunch etc, to see how can I come up with a good brunch idea or make a simple egg roll a bit more gourmet. Feta cheese goes well with eggs, so I found, so does tomato and olives. So pretty much imagine a mini greek salad in your tortilla wrap. The recipe is easy, and it`s perfect for breakfast/brunch. Enjoy wrapping!

Ingredients (for 1 tortilla)

1 tortilla

2 eggs

1dl cream

2 olives-sliced

half of a tomato, thinly sliced

2 lettuce leafs

a bit of feta cheese crumbles

Sprinkle some water on your tortilla and put it the microwave for 1 minute. Make omelette from egg, cream and a bit of salt. Thinly s;ice. Fill tortilla with ingredients, putting down the lettuce first. Don`t overfill, and make sure u well spread the ingredient`s. Fold. cut, enjoy the goodness!

So here I am back on fried food again. Well, I must admit vegetarian fried goodness are one of the things I`m really good at, so I`ll I guess I need to stick to my “roots” As well as the idea of a stuffed deep fired pancake came from my “roots”..hungarian roots! Pancakes are big in Hungary, they are like the french crepes, but they are smaller, and everybody`s favourite! Sometimes households don`t even exist without them. Especially when they are stuffed with grandma`s home made apricot jam, or sweet cottage cheese mix.

The idea of deep fried pancakes are unfortunately not mine. I started to like them when I remember, was still in elementary school and one of the local, deep-frost food company started to sell them (with cheese, or ham, or mushroom) . They became popular pretty fast, and almost all of the take away foodshops sold them. But for some strange reason, they disappeared, even thou people like them a lot.

Of course I wanted to come up with a very gourmet filling, and something not as usual as ham and cheese or mushroom. Originally the recipe would have been with gorgonzola, of course that day we were out of it! Typical!🙂 Anyway, I thought camembert would do, I wanted to use dried cranberries with it, but again I thought the combination would be a bit too obvious, when I realised, I have some spinach leftover within my mise en place. Well it did sound interesting enough for me to try!

The result was beyond surprising, the 2 ingredients work amazing together, as the camembert cheese melts, and unites with the spinach. They just melt in your mouth, and you can`t wait for an other bite. I found that 2 pieces is pretty much a complete meal, I wold only recommend some lettuce OR 2 half of grilled tomato with it! (In the service time the grilled tomato appeared by “surprise” and turned out to be a perfect company with the crepes!)

2 packs of round camembert cheese. ( You really only need the cheapest one from the supermarket, don`t waste expensive good cheese on deep-frying)

half a kg. of fresh spinach (well washed, chopped)

3 cloves of garlic

batter: flour, egg wash, breadcrumbs

Slice up the camembert, into thin slices – 1 pancake can hold 1 or max 2 slices of cheese. Fry the spinach on hot oil with the chopped garlic, add salt and white pepper. Try and get rid of as much liquid as possible.

Fill the crepes – don`t overfill! If you have some spinach leftover, better to put it in the freezer. If you overfill the crepes, they are going to break.

Fold the crepes, first fold in the 2 sides, and then fold up in 3 from the bottom to the top. You should het a nice cylinder shape.

Well, if there`s one thing I really like, is fried food. It`s a bad habit and I should eat much MUCH less from it, as a hungarian it regularly comes back into my “diet”. For a while I thought we are the only nation who obsessed with it. And I mean seriously, we deep fry anything! Cheese, chicken, cauliflower, pumpkin, anything, and sometimes it seems to me this it the only food we really sell in food court`s or in take aways. Other thing I really like is italian food, dunno why I always did enjoy my pasta and fresh vegetables, and antipasto buffets. When I realised italians also love dipping their food into hot oil. Such like arancini, or the other name suppli.

Arancini, are very easy to make, and they are very filling. We are talking about a bit al dante risotto base mixed with some egg, mozzarella cheese, and butter, rolled into balls, batter, and deep fried. One can be a snack between meals, or 3 of them with some salad can make a complete lunch, as they are very filling. Also, they are a good way to reycle some leftover risotto from last nights dinner, into a snack which the whole family enjoys. And as much as you can make risotto from pretty much anything, so you can make arancini balls from about anything.

We are coming close to butternut season, and now the kitchen I`m currently working in, has it`s hands on a very big delivery of butternut, so we are trying to put various things on the menu that people might still and enjoy, and can be a bit of change after butternut soup for example. So came the idea of butternut arancini!

Ingredients (for about 10 medium sized balls)

2 cups of cooked risotto rise, dry, not overcooked, not seasoned

1 half of a medium butternut, no skin, no seeds

spices sumac, white pepper, kurkuma, cajun pepper, salt

3 cloves of garlic chopped

olive oil

1 big mozzarella-chopped

1 egg

3 spoons of butter

flour, egg wash, and breadcrumbs for the batter

Cut medium big cubes out of the butternut, season it with the spices, add some olive oil and the garlic, put it on a baking tray, and roast it for about 25 minutes on 180C in the oven. It might take longer time, It`s ready when you can easily mash the butternut with a fork.

Cook the risotto rise, on some butter, gradually adding the stock, and reducing the liquid. It`s ready when the rice is only a littlebit hard in the middle. Take it off the heat but don`t cool!

To the medium warm risotto base add the butter-it has to melt inside, the egg- make sure you whisk it very fast, or you going to end up with scrambled eggs in your rise, and the mashed butternut, and the chopped mozzarella. The mozzarella also has to melt in your mix. If doesn`t put it back on the heat, make sure it doesn`t burn!

Form medium sized balls… well, the size is somewhere between a tennis ball and a table tennis ball. It`s a good handful. Start battering, as dipping it first to the flour, and egg, and breadcrumbs. Now here the egg and breadcrumb part you need to do twice, so the batter will hold, and won`t fall off during frying. Fry in hot oil..make sure you have enough oil to cover the balls completely!

..which actually was ment to be a butternut squash soup (one of my favourites), but the local supermarket was out of squash that day. Pity…, not long ago though, one of the hungarian bloggers I follow Hinyenc, has added the recipe of his “carrotcoconut and coriander” soup on to his blog. carrot and coriander are pretty much “friends forever” when it comes to soup, but I really liked the coconut idea, which I thought would go perfect with butternut. I added the sweet chili because spicy butternut is even better, but I didn`t really wanted it to be too hot for taste. Also I only vaguely read Hinyenc`s recipe, during then I didn`t had much time so I only looked at the title. Looking at it now, my soup, is quite different in recipe, for starts I used butter..plenty of it. It`s my fetish when it comes to creme soup, it has to be there. the other endless love are onions, you gotta love`em! I found that some chopped spring onions on top, not just look pretty nice, but it goes well, especially if they are really fresh and crunchy. Also the only vegetables I used where carrots and onions, in his recipe celery and red onions are present as well, also spices..plenty more of it like curry, caraway seeds, dried shredded coconut. So actually Im really interested how his version tastes like. I guess if you like the general idea both recipes can be followed.

Heat the butter in a medium saucepan. When meted, add the butter, and cook until soft. Make sure the onion doesn`t turn brown. Add the carrots, and continue cooking.Dont forget to simmer, so the vegetables don`t stick or burn.

Add the coconut milk, and a bit of water, so it would cover the carrots, reduce the heat, put a lid on, and cook carrots until soft.

When soft, take it off heat, pure it with food processor. Add the sweet chili and pure it together. Bring it back to boil, adding a bit of water. (you can add more water if your soup is too thick, just make for your own taste)

Add salt/pepper

When almost ready add a spoon of butter, it will give soup shiny, silky look..

Yes I`m one of those who admire Anthony Bourdain. It`s not because I`m a chef and I idolize him, or because I have to like him because it’s a written law..No I like him because he is cool and honest. Anyway this post is not about Anthony Bourdain, it’s about Les Halles, who is already “Long gone” if I want to quote ZAGAT`s 2011 review! Still, there`s no Les halles without Bourdain, he is the reason foodies all over the world get excited even by just mentioning the name. It’s a little bit like mentioning Ferra Adrian or El Bulli, but a bit more realistic and affordable way. The brasseries cookbook is available almost all over the world, written of course by “you know who”, and has recipes in it, which you can still order from the menu. Yes i do own the book…cooked from it? To be honest not yet, but planning, cos even the most simplest things like, tomato salad and french fries has a new level of approach in it. So yes, I couldn`t wait, to finally dine at the famous Les Halles and taste the fries!

Of course not only the fries, to be honest if I had the capability ive would have eaten the whole menu, but I couldn`t even finish my own 2 portions. Note to self the american “bigger portion” is different from all over the world, by translation it would be like “It’s a bigger portion” meaning”it is massive”!

Its January, the snow storm CNN was talking about has arrived. It is as big as it managed to clear the streets of Manhattan from people, and everybody decided to stay in. Well, almost everyone. As we arrive to Les Halles to out pretty late dinner reservation, something unexpected happens…the restaurant is empty! The weather is just as cold as it managed to freeze the citizens appetite and leave most places empty. Well, crowd or no crowd we are eating here tonight! As for the service, it was pretty good, fast, and polite. Hoping it is about the same when the place is full of costumers. The menus are the same that were on the website no changes there, also there are not much specials tonight so we already pretty much know what we are going to eat. The appetizers are home made terrine, and toasted brie with honey and black pepper. We get them in no time, but im not really impressed. Also I don’t know what I really expected? So the most simplest foods if they are done in Les Halles are going to taste and look different? Well, they don`t, and they didn`t. The presentation was a bit boring, as the taste was alright, but, I expected a bit more, a twist or a secret ingredient. The terrine might have been a bit of work, but the toasted brie wasn`t anything more, what an unexperienced cook couldn`t make at home.

For main course I decided to be a bit more adventurous so, i picked the raw meat and the raw egg. Yes I had a beef tartare, which is a bit of a risky order, but I figured it is a Tuesday, the stock must be fresh, it is made at the table and we have to live an adventurous life, so I went for it!. The portion was quite big, it was made at my table, but the ingredients for me were a bit surprising. As so far, from my dad (who is a chef for 30 years now) I only saw the mustard-butter-egg-salt-pepper-onion version for the mix. Here instead, were some capers, and tabasco, parsley, among the onion and mustard, it was nice, actually it was more then nice, it was indeed very tasty! It came with the famous thin and crispy fries, and side salad. The meat had a beautiful pink-red colour even long after the mix, and very fresh taste. I couldnt stop ordering bread for the tartar ( we eat it with toast, hungarian is a funny nation). It was a good choice, I didn`t have tartare for a long time. My dinner partner had “Choucroute Garnie” which might sound french, indeed it is a very German selection. It is a very typical german meal, which is the favourite among tourists at the Xmas markets. It’s a Frankfurter, a white sausage, a slice of smoked pork loin, and sour cabbage aka. “sauerkraut”. You can like or hate this dish, I guess there’s absolutely no fantasy in it, and you don`t need to b a good chef to prepare it. Of course he got a pretty big portion from, it, as much i tried to warn him, he didn`t listen to me. Later he admitted, he should have taken the tuna, as much heavy the meal was, it wasn`t too tasty. Of course there was no room for dessert.

It was a nice dinner, but I’ve been missing something. Maybe more people in the restaurant, and a bit more twists in the food, or just maybe a unique taste. Maybe this is what happens when you raise the bar too high, and forget why You went there on the first place.

Belgian chocolate, Beer, Waffle, Smurfs, many things a country can be famous for, and yet have such an unknown cousine, why unknown? As they don`t have one. Ok I know it’s a bit harsh, but lets face it, it is true. As Belgium and it`s capital can be the dream destination for sweet-lovers and dessert enthusiasts, as much that’s all the city has to offer culinary vise. Also even in some restaurants we have to watch out , as Brussels famous restaurant street, which offers lunch and dinner menus is just a giant rip-off. If look carefully all the menus are exactly the same, and our food will come out of the freezer, into the microwave and on our plates, all this for 12 euros least. Of course you can eat well, and have a tasty dinner and in the city, but in this case some local advise from a friend or from a hotel, or guide is very necessary. Still, you’ll find almost the same things everywhere. The city is undergoing a Spaghetti Bolognese and Chilli con Carne phase, so try and not be too picky. On the other hand you will find a chip shop almost on every corner, if you are not too adventurous, it can be a nice substitute for a couple of meals.

Frambois Beer at Brasserie la Clef d`Or

Onion soup with cheese at Brasserie la Clef d`Or

Brasserie la Clef d`Or, is one those places, where you would`nt just walk-in, well, first as it looks a bit dirty, and you are not really sure they cook there. But it might be your best meal in Brussels. somewhere between the main train station and the city center. So it is a little bit off the radar, despite the local flea market which is right next to it. As we walk in, we already see, yes most of the people here are locals. Some don`t even order, just take their seat, and a beer will be served to them immediately. The staff is friendly, and the service is quite fast. And yes, there`s food, of course not a huge variety of it, but right enough for a bistro. The Brasserie is famous of it`s home-made soups, and the stoemp. What is a stoemp? It`s a traditional Belgian and dutch mashed potato with some other root vegetables included, like broccoli, or leek. Here it’s served on a slice of bread,with some fried bacon. Theres of course Bolognese and chili on the menu. Also a few version of croque`s. But let me say, in Brussels I was disappointed in the croque monsieur. As it is only toasted cheese and ham sandwich, and there’s no bechamel inside, and no butter-parmesan crust. The onion soup here was very nice, served with some fresh baguette, the stoemp was big and filling, the beer was nice and cold. My fixation is the Frambois beer which is raspberry beer, it is nice sweet and sour, must try!

Stoemp avec Lard

The restaurant is one of those places where you just want to hang out, with friends, or just sit down and read a book. It does have a friendly and cosy atmosphere, and I pretty much wanted to stay there all day. If you are in Brussels, it would a mistake to leave it out!

If you work in travel and hospitality meaning anything between hotel manager and dishwasher, the “cruise ship” talk must have come up from time to time. It always sound so wonderful, just like invitation to the military “lifetime opportunity, great pay, management position, travel the world etc” slogans, which already sounds too good to be true. Well they are.

In hospitality, we all know this is hard work, long work, and a different lifestyle. But on the other hand hospitality work is hard and long and it is a different lifestyle! Also a lifestyle where is relatively easy to find a job, but its hard to find a good paying one, one with good reputation, or one where you not going to be surrounded with complete assholes, or to be used and abused at. Or just being layd off from 1 minute to the other. If you tried almost everything, or had a bad experience, or just completely ran out of money, and have no idea how to get out of the debts, or just simply want to try something different you do start thinking about the cruise ships.

What do you need for the ship? Education is important, for some positions, lets say kitchen and front desk etc, where you studied and how many experience you have is pretty important. Languages. English and German is minimum, but the more the merrier! Again work experience is good, but lets say in housekeeping is not so important, you don’t have to spend years in the industry, but if you don’t have experience at all, it will be hard to get in! Be open-minded and friendly, you will be working with many different people, maybe from all over the World, you’ll learn tolerance is good! As I told you it is hard work, so be ready for working hard, without complaining!

Yes it is true, it is good money! And we are talking about very good money, also no expenses, as there’s no rent or bills on the ship. You get crew meals, some drinks, aaaaaaaaaand I guess that’s it. Be ready for working 7 days a week, 15 hours/day, no days off, maybe a holiday for 10 days or so in every 3 months. Be ready for sharing a cabin with someone who has completely different habits then you do, and be ready to live and work with people you don’t necessarily like. Be ready for not being in daily contact with your loved ones, as there barely internet connection, or phone reception.

It does sound a bit depressing isn`t it? But when you are there it is not so bad after all. You find that the people on board most likely are well-trained professionals, who chose this lifestyle almost after college. They are nice and friendly, even if you are not a fan of everybody you’ll get along and will be able to find friends. The ship stops almost everyday, so most likely you going to be able to go out for a walk, or shopping, or massage or whatever you like, you can travel around on the company’s expenses, visiting places, that maybe you would never do, on your own free will. You can save up money, as you don’t have expenses, only the stuff, food, drink, sweets, clothes whatever you buy for yourself. But let me tell you, shopping sometimes is very tempting, pretty much as one for of entertainment after the time spent on board.

So what can you do on board? It also depends on the ship you are on. The difference between the river and the ocean cruises, is that the ocean cruise sucks your soul, and you’ll turn into a zombie pretty soon, so they have a bit more entertainment..lets say gym, or free internet. River cruises, are even lighter on the choices, after work you can either chill in your cabin, read, or watch a film. Or you can go to the crew room, hang out with the people you see everyday, and join or look at the alcoholics, doing they daily routine, emptying the vending machine, and sculling beer all night. So there`s no other way to put it there IS drinking, there is heavy drinking, and you need to watch out cos you can easily be a part of it!

Well this is my general “know how” handbook about cruise ship work. I’ll b back with more posts, explaining the work and the lifestyle a bit deeper. If you are planning, to get on board, it will be interesting to read, as the same rules apply, wherever you are!